Outside that border, well, that was Gweyn's room to roam as soon as she was old enough to roam. Born in February 1995, Gweyn grew up in the Chelmsford gym watching practices -- or at least she watched once she outgrew sitting in her baby saucer outside the maroon border watching Barney and Sesame Street.

"It was like a routine. I would pull up to the door (to the Chelmsford gym) and beep. Four or five kids would come out and help me unload the baby saucer, the blanket, the diaper bag, and set everything up," says Dana DeFilippo. "The TV would already be set up."

When Gweyn, who attended her first practice at age 7 months, grew big enough to pedal a Big Wheel, she pedaled after the balls that bounced to her side of the border. She pedaled over and dropped the balls into the ball bin. "At one point she was in the bin handing me the ball," says her mother.

Former Chelmsford volleyball standout Kendall Rizzo, who baby-sat Gweyn, smiles recalling her cycling around the perimeter of practice.

Advertisement

"Some of my teammates used to take her bike and she'd chase after them," says Rizzo, a 2002 graduate and now an assistant coach. "It was fun watching her grow up."

These days, Gweyn DeFilippo plays inside the maroon border. That little girl watching Cookie Monster and pedaling after volleyballs only yesterday it seems, is today a senior setter for the 11-7 Lions, who are headed to the state tournament for the 28th time in her mother's 30 seasons as coach.

George Sullivan, Andover High's volleyball coach for 25 years, still sees a little girl "shagging balls all over the place" during his matches against Chelmsford. "I was the enemy, but I always said 'hi' to her," says Sullivan with a laugh. "It seems so strange now that she is a senior, going off to college. It was cool seeing her grow up."

Cultural interests

Gweyn wants to study theater in college. She is a member of the Chelmsford High School Theater Guild and plays violin in the school orchestra. She loves volleyball but is not interested in becoming a coach like her mother.

Dana and Gweyn's mother-daughter relationship is bound by love, volleyball and a maroon border to a busy life. "Various stages of things you would do (growing up) in the backyard or street, she just did in the gyms," says DeFilippo, a single mom since Gweyn was 5.

So many girls Dana DeFilippo coached became big sisters to Gweyn. She had brothers, too. Mom coached the Chelmsford boys' junior varsity team for six springs. Some of those seasons Gweyn attended the Harrington Elementary School just up the parking lot from the Chelmsford High gym. "I would set the team up with a drill, drive over to the farthest parking-lot spot, run up the hill, get her, and come back to practice," says DeFilippo.

Gweyn frequently then ran off into the high school to play. That would trigger a two-finger whistle from her mom, calling Gweyn back nearer the maroon border. (DeFilippo demonstrates to this reporter the power of her whistle by screeching practice to a halt.)

While a Lowell High student (Class of 1978 -- she was Dana Howe then), DeFilippo helped launch the Red Raiders' volleyball and softball programs. She played both sports at UMass Lowell. She became Chelmsford's head volleyball coach at age 22. Volleyballs flew about her daughter while Gweyn was still in the womb.

"We went to the state semifinals in 1994 while I was pregnant with her," says DeFilippo, 51, who has coached Chelmsford to two state titles (1985, 1986), nine North Sectional titles, 15 Merrimack Valley Conference titles, and nearly 500 victories total. (DeFilippo for four seasons has also coached the boys' varsity team at Greater Lowell Tech, where she has been a science teacher for 30 years.)

Gweyn was in the Chelmsford gym wrapped in a blanket at 7 months old. "Out of necessity, she would come with me," says Dana. Gweyn eventually became aware of what was happening in the gym. At age 7 she asked her mother if she could play volleyball. "You can when you're 10," Dana told Gweyn.

Gweyn did not forget. When Gweyn turned 10, Dana returned to coaching Junior Olympic Volleyball in the winter to coach her daughter. Dana had given that up for a few years because "it got to be too much."

Gweyn DeFilippo is now in her second season on the Chelmsford varsity. "I play because I love it," says Gweyn.

Her proud coach says Gweyn is "very knowledgeable about the game" and is a "calming influence" on her teammates.

Her prouder mom says Gweyn has "a great sense of humor and is kind and caring."

"Gweyn's dad has twin 6-year-olds (living in Connecticut), a boy and a girl, and they just adore her," says Dana. "She just has a natural way about her with kids."

Welcome to your discussion forum: Sign in with a Disqus account or your social networking account for your comment to be posted immediately, provided it meets the guidelines. (READ HOW.)
Comments made here are the sole responsibility of the person posting them; these comments do not reflect the opinion of The Sun. So keep it civil.

ODESSA, Texas (AP) — A West Texas man has been charged with impersonating an officer by using sirens and flashing lights to skip to the head of the drive-thru line at a fast-food restaurant. Full Story

Sufjan Stevens, "Carrie & Lowell" (Asthmatic Kitty) Plucked strings and pulsing keyboards dominate the distinctive arrangements on Sufjan Stevens' latest album, and in the absence of a rhythm section, they serve to keep time. Full Story